


boys in my head, stars in my sky

by hopeboos



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Dreamsharing, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, OT4, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 19:37:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21104891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeboos/pseuds/hopeboos
Summary: Thinking about it, it’s a little different to the Jeju he’s familiar with. Everything has a softness to it that’s soothing. It’s all too perfect—the leaves all exactly rounded, no bug bites or weather wear. There’s no torn-up plants, no mosquitos buzzing around, not a cloud in the sky. He thinks about his Life classes in school, and the way the teacher describes dreams, something beyond reality, something in-between, and sits up, looking around him excitedly. If this is his first dream—then that means—“Hello?” a boy calls, making his way through the trees to his left.Seungkwan leaps to his feet, shouting in joy. “Hello! Soulmate, hello!”orBetween forests, stars, and dragon fights, four soulmates find each other.





	1. seungkwan

**Author's Note:**

> i chose to put the major content warning in the category tags rather than the additional tags as it's a big spoiler for the plot! however if you are a sensitive person please do check up there as i wouldnt want to upset anyone with this work! you can also [dm me](https://twitter.com/hope_boos)  
if you'd like a more detailed trigger warning before you start
> 
> that being said, i don't think it's particularly graphic or heavy, and hopefully it's a little cathartic if anything. a lot of this fic is quite fluffy in fact! don't be daunted if you think this fic looks interesting :)
> 
> enjoy!

☆ ☽ ☆

He looks around, wondering how he got here, lying in the soft grass of the Jeju landscape. The sun is shining way above, and the trees are blooming a vivid green, and he can hear the stream close by, a favourite haunt of his when he was younger. But it’s the middle of winter in Korea right now; how can he be here, lying in the gentle warmth of a summer sun?

Thinking about it, it’s a little different to the Jeju he’s familiar with. Everything has a softness to it that’s soothing. It’s all too perfect—the leaves all exactly rounded, no bug bites or weather wear. There’s no torn-up plants, no mosquitos buzzing around, not a cloud in the sky. He thinks about his Life classes in school, and the way the teacher describes dreams, something beyond reality, something in-between, and sits up, looking around him excitedly. If this is his first dream—then that means—

“Hello?” a boy calls, making his way through the trees to his left.

Seungkwan leaps to his feet, shouting in joy. “Hello! Soulmate, hello!”

The boy stops, hand against a tree, looking at him with uncertainty. “Soulmate?”

“We’re dreaming!” Seungkwan says, coming over to meet him. “Look—everything is so quiet, so beautiful—there’s no way the weather is like this in real life. We finally got our dreams!”

The boy peers around them again, then looks back at Seungkwan’s face, smile growing. “They finally came.”

“Yes!” Seungkwan throws his arms around the boy’s shoulders in glee. “I’ve been waiting for so long, I thought they would never come—but you’re really here!”

The boy laughs, trying to steady Seungkwan in his arms. “Here I am. What’s your name?”

Seungkwan lets go of him, stepping back just enough to beam at him. He can’t stop smiling. “Seungkwan!”

“I’m Hansol,” the boy says, and Seungkwan can barely contain his squeal of joy. This boy is too cute. “I think we must be in your dream; I could never think up a place this beautiful.”

“Yes, I think this is mine,” he says, smiling and gesturing to their surroundings.

“It looks like a place I’d like to visit,” Hansol muses, reaching out to feel the leaves between two fingers.

Seungkwan wants nothing more than to scream _yes, come to Jeju! I’m here! _But it’s like the words stop in his throat, and he knows it isn’t allowed. It’s the one rule of dreams; you can’t give away information about your location. Meeting your soulmate is supposed to stay spontaneous and unplanned. “You should go, then” he manages, smiling.

“Really?” Hansol says, watching him carefully. “You think so?”

Seungkwan takes his hand and starts pulling him towards the sound of the stream. “Yes, I do think so.

Hansol grins back wide, a knowing gleam in his eyes. “Looks like I have my summer plans sorted, then.”

“I hope you know your geography well,” Seungkwan says, bringing him close. “I hear kissing your soulmate is even better in real life.”

Hansol laughs again, bright and happy. Seungkwan knows the universe has picked right; he could be with this boy forever. “We haven’t even kissed in the dream space yet!”

“Then how about we test that out right now?” he asks, pulling him close with both of his hands.

“You’re very forward, aren’t you, Seungkwan?”

“I have a feeling you like that in a guy,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Well,” Hansol teases. “You pull it off well.”

Seungkwan shakes his head and kisses him, all confidence and warmth. Hansol kisses him back happily under the Jeju sun, soft grass under his bare feet, soft boy under his willing hands.

ლ ❂ ლ

“Ma!” he screams when he wakes up, almost falling out of bed in his rush to get out of his bedroom.

“What, what?” Ma asks in alarm, looking at him and his wild bedhead in alarm. “Are you okay?”

“Ha!” He can’t help it, the shouts of joy leave without his permission, making him dance around the room, ecstatic in the wake of his perfect dream, his perfect boy.

“What is it?” Jinseol is standing in the doorway to her room, watching him with a vague air of disgust. “Why are you screaming first thing in the morning?”

He bounces up to her, takes her hands, and leads her into the living room, dancing. When she only proves to be a deadweight, he cut ties and continues leaping around the room, shouting and singing at the top of his voice. “I found him! I had my first dream! I have a boyfriend!”

“Seungkwannie!” his Ma exclaims, meeting him as he rounds the table and sweeping him up into a hug. He laughs, hugs her right back, almost vibrating in place. “Baby, this is wonderful!”

“He’s amazing, Ma,” he gushes, feeling that he must impart on them all how much he loves Hansol, how he’d had the best night of his life. “We went running through Sunrise Peak together, and sat on the top of it, and everything was so beautiful. We’re the same age, and he’s going to convince his parents to come to Jeju for the summer—oh, Ma, I love him, I can’t wait to see him again tonight—”

“That’s our Seungkwannie,” Jinseol says from the other side of the room. “You don’t do things half-heartedly, do you?”

He doesn’t even feel an ounce of sibling aggression. She’s not wrong. “What’s the point in taking things slow? We’re soulmates! Oh, why can’t it be night already? I want to go back to sleep!”

Ma laughs at him, pats his cheek affectionately. “Let’s celebrate your first dream today, and take your mind off wanting to be asleep. You have to be awake for a little while to be asleep, you know.”

Seungkwan pouts. “In a perfect world, we would all be able to see our soulmates in our dreams all the time.”

“You won’t be saying that when you meet him in real life,” Ma says, knowingly. “Go on, get cleaned up. We have to celebrate!”

☆ ☽ ☆

His excitement keeps him awake for longer than he’d like that night, but he’s always been a big sleep enthusiast, and he can’t be kept away from Hansol for long.

When he enters his dream—his second ever soulmate dream!—he’s walking through Bijarim forest, damp moss under his feet and clear air in his lungs. He hasn’t been here for a while—it’s nice, to have it be so calmingly empty, so clear of tourists and hikers.

“Hansol?” he calls, excited to see him again, looking around to try and expect his approach.

There’s movement between the trees ahead, and he smiles, laughs a little, starts walking towards it. “Hansol? Are you hiding?”

The figure freezes up ahead, a body obscured by trees, and Seungkwan gains on him. “It’s okay! It’s just me!” He rounds the big, old tree in his way. “Boo!”

The eyes that look back at him are not Hansol’s. He meets the shocked gaze of a short boy, mouth in a surprised O, body frozen in place. Seungkwan reels back in shock, staring right back at him.

“You’re not Hansol,” he remarks, clutching at the tree.

“No,” the boy agrees. “And you’re not Seokmin.”

“No,” Seungkwan says, looking around as if Hansol might appear any second now and laugh at him. “I’m Seungkwan.”

“I’m Jihoon,” the boy says, still stuck in place. To be fair, Seungkwan’s struggling to move too.

“Hi, Jihoon,” Seungkwan says. “Not to be rude or anything, but why are you in my soulmate dream?”

“Well,” Jihoon says. “I suppose it’s because I’m your soulmate.”

Seungkwan blinks. “I have two soulmates? Isn’t that really rare?”

“You have three, I think,” Jihoon corrects. “I expect you’ll meet Seokmin tomorrow.”

“Woah,” he says, swaying back on his heels a little. “That’s a lot of boys.”

Jihoon cocks his head. “You’ve got a big forest here. I think we can all fit.”

Seungkwan smiles at him, looks around them thoughtfully. “Yes, I think so. I’d certainly never say no to more love and attention.”

Jihoon laughs, and the pretty sound rings around the forest, bouncing between trees and reverberating in his chest, filling a space he didn’t know was there.

He can tell from his body language that Jihoon isn’t quite ready to receive the intense attention he’d given to Hansol yesterday, but that’s okay. He’s content to sit with him on the damp earth, and talk about music, about the age of the trees, about the fact that Seokmin and Jihoon are in school together, somewhere. He’s different to Hansol, and Seungkwan is quickly coming to realise how lucky he is; three soulmates! Three people to learn, to fall in love with. He’s always had a lot of love to give; now, the universe is giving back, and if it’s in the form of Jihoon’s low voice telling him about music production, he thinks he might just be okay with that.

ლ ❂ ლ

When the summer holidays start is when his mission begins. In line with the dream space rule, Hansol can’t say when he’ll be in Jeju, or even whether he’s coming at all. That’s okay; Seungkwan knows he’s coming, can feel it in his heart, can tell in his smile whenever he looks at the landscape of Seungkwan’s dreams. All he needs to do is to find him.

He goes into Jeju city every day, walks around the town centre, passes by hotels and tourist spots and shopping malls in the hopes they’ll pass by in the way fate intends. Writes his phone number and name in toilet stalls and on tunnel walls and on noticeboards, hoping one of them will reach him. The weeks roll on, and the travel is getting expensive, but he tries not to lose hope. Hansol will be here. He will.

When he first sees it, he almost slaps himself. Why didn’t he think of that? A poster with Hansol’s picture, a call for Seungkwan, and a telephone number, pinned up onto a board outside the tourism centre. He rips it off the board and dials the number with fumbling hands.

Hansol picks up on the second ring. “Hello?”

Seungkwan promptly screams down the phone, jumping up and down in delight. “It’s you! You came to find me!”

Hansol laughs, and he almost melts at the sound. “Hey, it looks like I was pretty successful. Turn around.”

He turns, and there he is, making his way through the crowd with a stack of posters in one hand, phone in the other. He looks even more beautiful in real life, hair flopping in his eyes, face glowing with the force of his smile. Seungkwan runs towards him and leaps, arms around his shoulders, holding him tight. He thought he’d never get here.

“You’re really real!” he says against Hansol’s neck.

“Hey, you are too! What a surprise!”

Seungkwan leans back only to slap his arm playfully, though he can’t suppress the grin on his face. “I’m so happy you came. I’m going to show you all the best parts of Jeju.”

“I think you’ve already shown me,” Hansol says, tapping his head, “in there. But I wouldn’t mind seeing them for real, too.”

“They’re even better in real life,” Seungkwan assures him, taking both hands in his.

“Oh, I bet they are,” Hansol smiles, eyes wandering over Seungkwan’s face.

There’s a small hump to get over when he mistakenly introduces himself to Hansol’s mom, who can’t speak Korean. She seems lovely, though, and supposedly wishes them well when Seungkwan requests to take Hansol off on their own, to show him the Olle trails, where they’d shared a recent dream.

“Hey,” he says, pointing to the mountains ahead. “Sunrise peak is up there. That’s where we went the first time we met.”

“We should go up there!” Hansol enthuses. “Wow, I bet the real life sunrise would be so beautiful there.”

“Hmm,” Seungkwan says. “It’s a lot harder to get up there in real life than it is in a dream.”

Hansol swings their clasped hands between them. “But you’d do it for me, right, soulmate?”

A thrill runs through him at that word, at being called that in real life. “Hey! Don’t use that sort of thing on me!”

“Why not? Doesn’t it work?”

“It works too well. I’m declaring it illegal.”

“So you don’t want to see the sunrise with me?”

“We’ll have to wake up real early. Do you know how much you’re asking of me?”

Hansol flashes him a smile, and that’s enough, really. It’s monumentally unfair.

“Okay, okay! I’ll think about it.”

Hansol laughs at him, pulls him further along the trail. Seungkwan is too soft for him, already, but he doesn’t mind, really.

☆ ☽ ☆

The canola flowers are always vibrant in summertime, lighting up the Jeju landscape with their fields of brilliant yellow as far as the eye can see. Seungkwan’s never tried lying in the fields, not wanting to squash any of their beauty, ruin the way they grow. This, though, is nice, the way the petals tickle his face, the slight breeze on his skin, the sweet smell of the pollen.

A shadow falls over him, and he squints up into it. “You look very cheery today, Seungkwannie,” Seokmin remarks. He only stays blocking the sun for a moment, coming down to lie beside Seungkwan amongst the flowers.

“I should hope so,” Seungkwan says, cupping a hand over his eyes to see his soulmate properly. “Hansol and I met for the first time yesterday.”

Seokmin gasps, rolls over to clutch at his arm. “Really? Seungkwan! I’m so happy for you guys!”

Seungkwan giggles, rolls over properly to look back at him. “Me too. He’s so beautiful, Seokmin—I’ve had the best day ever with him. I’m so glad we didn’t have to wait until we’re old and boring to meet.”

“I don’t think you will ever be boring, Seungkwannie,” Seokmin says, sunshine smile lighting up his face.

“I think you’re right,” he says, eyes shining. “Can you imagine what it’ll be like when the four of us meet? There’ll never be a boring day in that household.”

“Seriously, don’t even say it! I’m too excited!” He gasps, as if the thought alone overwhelms him. “I can’t wait to meet both of you. It’s so good you have each other, though—it means we’re halfway there, now. Two and two!”

“Right,” he agrees. “It means we’re not far away from seeing you, hopefully. Hansol and I are going to try to go to the same University, so maybe we’ll meet there.”

“Jihoon and I thought the same,” Seokmin agrees. “It’s too hard being away from each other.”

“So things are going steady with you guys, huh?” Seungkwan asks, playing with Seokmin’s fingers in between them, hands loosely clasped together.

“Yeah,” he says, blushing. “I was worried at first, but—I always thought he would be a good soulmate. And he is. The best.”

“Good,” he smiles. “That’s what I like to hear.” He leans over and plants a kiss on Seokmin’s cheek, the flowers tickling his face as he does.

“Yeah,” Seokmin giggles. “Things are good.” He loops an arm around Seungkwan’s neck to pull him down properly, returning the kiss. “Better than ever.”

ლ ❂ ლ

It’s settled that they should go to Sunrise Peak on the last day, so that Hansol can sleep on the plane back to Seoul, and Seungkwan can take the nap he’s going to need after such an early start. If they can time the naps right, maybe they’ll even meet in their dreams, and pretend they aren’t parting ways.

Hansol sleeps over at his house beforehand, for convenience, and it’s the best night of sleep he’s ever had; Jihoon in his head and Hansol in his arms, warm and solid and really here, if only for one night. It almost makes the early morning worth it. Hansol’s sleep-tousled hair is what eventually gets Seungkwan out of bed, so that he can run his hands through it, kiss Hansol’s forehead, clutch onto him as they brush their teeth.

He supposes he shouldn’t be surprised at the amount of energy this boy has first thing in the morning. It’s like getting outside flips a switch in him; he looks at the night sky and smiles, takes the rucksack from Seungkwan’s hands, and asks, _are you ready?_

The hike up Sunrise Peak is just as exhausting as he’d remembered, and they have to stop a few times just to let him flop down on the dewy grass and catch his breath, Hansol cajoling him and pulling him up again when he deems him ready. The sun is already starting to peak over the horizon when they get to the top, distant crimson streaks shimmering on the ocean in front of them.

“I hope you like this now,” Seungkwan huffs, sitting down heavily, not really caring that his jeans are getting wet from the grass. “This is the most exhausted I’ve ever been.”

“But you did it,” Hansol says, looking over at him.

“The things I do for love,” Seungkwan says, and he means it as a half-joke, but Hansol looks over at him with a face full of sincerity.

“I’ve had a really good time with you,” he says, softly. “Thank you for showing me Jeju.”

“Of course,” Seungkwan says, taking one of Hansol’s arms and hugging it tight. “How could I not?”

Hansol nods. “True. I’m pretty great.”

Seungkwan hits him playfully. “Hey. I’m allowed to say you’re great, not you.”

“Sorry,” he grins. “I’m just saying. You didn’t need to come up here. But you did, for me.”

“You’re too powerful,” Seungkwan informs him. “I think you could make anyone do anything if you flop your fringe about and bat your eyes enough.”

“Wow, thanks,” Hansol laughs. “Especially you, though?”

He nods. “Especially me.” He intertwines their fingers. “Just want to make you happy.”

Hansol’s face glows under the light of the sun. “Me too. You deserve it.”

He cups his face with one hand. “You think so?”

“Yeah. I do.”

Seungkwan leans in to kiss him just as the sun peeks over the horizon, can feel the warm rays of light on his face as their lips meet. It feels right. It feels safe. It feels better than it had in the dream, to have him for real, a firm body under his hands.

The sky paints itself pink, and Seungkwan’s heart leaps.


	2. jihoon

☆ ☽ ☆

It’s not hard to recognise his first soulmate dream has finally arrived. The dragon guarding the tower up ahead, spitting fire into the clearing in front of him, is a big giveaway. He’s positively thrilled for the opportunity this presents; namely, getting up close and personal with a dragon.

“Aha!” Jihoon cries, looking down at the shiny armour now adorning his body. “Yes!”

It’s not just that he has the opportunity to _fight a dragon_ that has him thrilled. It’s that the soulmate dreams are supposed to come with the onset of puberty and—despite the lack of growth spurt he was promised—he’s pretty sure that began years ago. He must’ve been waiting, all this time, for a younger soulmate to reach puberty too. It’s a relief to know they’re not too much younger than him.

There’s a flash of movement in the tower—someone drawing the curtains, a silhouette crouching away out of sight of the dragon, cowering in fear. His soulmate—his life partner—his damsel in distress. He must save them from this dragon! He must conquer his dream!

“Dragon!” he shouts, approaching the beast brazenly. He reflects that there’s safety in a dream space—everything feels different here. He knows he can’t be hurt. Also, the fact that dragons aren’t real helps, too. Still, the flame the dragon spits in retaliation is hot and unwelcoming, heating him up quickly inside his metal armour.

“I’ve come to defeat you!” he shouts, holding up his sword. The dragon roars in response, and he hastily brings up his shield too, preparing for another round of fire.

He dashes forward, the armour surprisingly light on his body, dodging the burst of flames. There’s a door to the tower straight ahead, but the dragon’s tail is stoutly blocking the entrance. Time to change that. He runs between the dragon’s thick legs, dodging a swipe that would’ve sent him flying, and reaches the tail. Using the ridges that ridge the dragon’s back and tail, he climbs up the scaled limb with a swiftness he doesn’t possess in real life. Dreams are amazing, he thinks.

The dragon roars and flails in anger, not able to turn enough to knock Jihoon from his back. Jihoon holds fast, using the spaces in between the scales as footholds, making quick progress up to the dragon’s head.

“Your time has come to an end, dragon!” he declares, raising his sword up high. The dragon roars one last time, and Jihoon buries the sword deep in the beast’s neck. The dragon cries out, and flails, but soon flops heavily to the ground, debilitated and dying.

“Woah,” Jihoon grins. “I would feel bad, but you’re not real, so.” He pats the dragon’s head before he jumps down into the clearing again. “I hope we can meet again in another dream, buddy. Maybe you’ll win next time.”

He looks up to the tower, and for the first time, he feels nervous. Slaying a dragon is one thing—one pretty cool, pretty fun thing. Meeting his soulmate—his life partner, his other half—is about to have very real, waking world consequences.

He jogs his way open to the tower door, pulls it open, and starts climbing the spiralling stairs inside. The tower is tall, but he doesn’t tire, working steadily to reach the top. He wonders what his soulmate thinks of all this—hopefully they won’t mind his totally nerdy and self-indulgent dream space too much.

When he reaches the door at the top, he takes off his helmet, shaking his hair out before putting it on the floor beside the door. Here goes nothing, he thinks, knocking on the door before pushing it open slowly. It reveals a small, circular room, bare brick walls decorated with colourful tapestries, swooping drapes obscuring the bed in the middle of it. There’s someone crouching beside it, squashed into the space between the bed and the dresser.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to be afraid,” Jihoon says, pushing through the drapes to reach his soulmate. “The dragon is dead. This is all a dream. I’m your soulmate.” He pushes past the thick, purple drape, to reveal his soulmate, still shaking.

A rather familiar face meets his eyes.

“Seokmin?” he says, eyes wide, looking down at his best friend.

“Jihoon?” Seokmin cries out.

“You’re… my soulmate?”

“This is _your_ dream?” Seokmin screeches, crossing his hands across his chest. “Why does it have to be so scary? Why did you have to kill the dragon? Couldn’t you have just—befriended it or something?”

“Oh my God,” Jihoon says, staring. “You’re my soulmate.”

ლ ❂ ლ

Seokmin doesn’t come into school the next day, and he doesn’t answer Jihoon’s texts, either. Jihoon’s kind of affronted; Seokmin never ignores anyone, and never bunks off school. He does, however, recognise that this is a unique situation, and he himself is struggling to come to terms with the idea that Seokmin is his soulmate. That they’re bound together for life, and all that. He loves the guy, but he hadn’t thought it was love in that way.

That, and he put Seokmin in a tower guarded by a dragon. In his dream! But still. Seokmin didn’t seem to appreciate it much.

Things are different on the second night, when he winds up in an idyllic forest with a boy called Seungkwan, who keeps calling out for another boy called Hansol. He’s nice, and funny, and pretty loud, but Jihoon doesn’t mind; he’s adjusted to those sorts of things in the process of being friends with Seokmin. Seungkwan’s dream doesn’t have dragons or action or anything he was looking forward to, but it is calming. It’s more the experience he was expecting from a soulmate dream; a tentative first meeting with a stranger, a foreign place, a new experience.

He wakes up anxious to research everything he can about having multiple soulmates; it’s a rare phenomenon, but not unheard of. He bunks off his first class to head to the library, which is where he finds Seokmin, sharp nose buried deep in _The Science and Semantics of Soulmates_.

“Seokmin,” he hisses, taking the seat beside him.

Seokmin jumps, looks up at Jihoon, and then pouts, looking back at his book.

Jihoon frowns. “Are you still mad at me for killing the dragon?”

“You didn’t have to kill him,” Seokmin mumbles.

“It wasn’t real, Seokmin,” he sighs. “Don’t you think there’s bigger things to be concerned with?”

“Not really,” he says, still sulky. “I’m not surprised we’re soulmates. Not as surprised as you clearly are.”

Jihoon pauses. “Really?”

Seokmin finally puts down his book. “Of course! I’m your best friend!”

“The other day you called Chan your best friend. Then Soonyoung got offended, because he thought _he_ was your best friend.”

“Well, yes—”

“And then Mingyu started to whine, because he said he’d known you the longest, so he deserved best friend rights—”

“Okay, yes, I know,” Seokmin says, waving his hands. “You’re all my best friends! But I was hoping for one of you to be my soulmate. And truthfully, if I could pick one of my friends, it would be you.”

Jihoon stares. Seokmin doesn’t have it in him to be untruthful, as much as he would like to doubt that statement. “Really?”

“Of course! You’re really cool, Hyung, and really smart, and I really like being with you. The others can be a lot sometimes. Being with you is easy.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Seokmin says quietly.

There’s a pause between them. “Did you find anything in there about having three soulmates?”

“Some things, yeah. I’ll send you the highlights.”

“Thanks. I think you’ll have a good time meeting Seungkwan tonight.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You two are matched really well.”

“I think you’ll have fun with Hansol too,” he smiles. “He’s cool, like you.”

Sounds promising. “Can’t wait,” he says, resting beside Seokmin to read over his shoulder.

☆ ☽ ☆

The clearing he finds himself in reminds him of Seungkwan’s forest, only there’s a distinct difference. He could tell, when he was there, that Seungkwan loves that place; his subconscious had chosen it because of the natural beauty, the calm surroundings, the easy existence of the place. This forest is the very opposite. The sky is purple with twilight, the air thick with evening mist. The trees loom over him, promising something thrilling.

He doesn’t have to wait very long. A buzzing noise starts up in the distance, and he looks around, trying to identify the cause. He doesn’t have any weapons in this dream, only simple casual clothing, boots fit for forest walking but without the jacket necessary for the cool evening. The buzzing gets louder, turning into a sort of whine, and he can’t for the life of him think what it might be. Then, high in the sky, he can see something silvery and disc-like approaching—as it comes closer, it grows in size, and it becomes the apparent the noise is coming from it. The noise gets louder, and the object is clearly bigger than a car, bigger than a house, big, big, and heading his way. He doesn’t move, because this is his dream, and he’ll be fine. Also, if it explodes on impact, he definitely wants to see that up close.

When the thing finally crashes, it doesn’t explode, but it sure does create a shockwave that knocks him off his feet. He sits up, and grins wide, looking up at the alien spaceship in front of him. The buzzing whirs to a stop as the engines cut out, silver exterior dented but not seriously damaged.

“Woah,” he says. “Awesome.”

Part of the spaceship gives way, opening up a section to show the interior. Smoke crawls out, along with a figure, coughing and wafting away the smoke. He gets to his feet and brushes himself down. He thinks he knows who this might be.

“Hansol?”

Hansol looks up, meets his eyes, and smiles very pleasantly, for someone who’s just crashed an alien ship. “Jihoon?”

“Yeah, hey,” he says, approaching with a hand out. Seokmin would scoff at him, say _you’re soulmates!_ But Hansol takes his hand and shakes it gratefully.

“Nice to meet you man. Hell of a dream space you have here.”

Jihoon laughs. “Yeah, well. I saved Seokmin from a dragon, so. I have a kick for adventure, I guess.”

Hansol laughs easily too. Seokmin was right; he can see it being easy to get on with this guy. “No sweat, dude. It’s really cool. I’ve never been in a spaceship before.” He turns back to survey the size of the ship in awe. “Does this make me an alien?”

“Only if you want to be,” Jihoon shrugs. “Can I see inside?”

“Sure! It’s more your spaceship than mine, anyway.”

They climb in through the door Hansol had just left from, the smoke inside thinned out and dispersed into the cool night air. Everything inside is metal, just as shiny and silver as the outside. Once they pass through a corridor, they reach a wide control room, flashing buttons and coloured panels covering every surface.

“Woah,” Jihoon says.

Hansol surveys the room. “I should probably fix it, or something. You want to help?”

Jihoon nods, and Hansol leads them both to the bust control panel that had caused the issue. Jihoon eyes it and knows exactly what to do, starts pulling out the faulty wires, tying together the ones that had snapped. It’s easy work, rhythmic. Distracting.

“So, what’s your dream space like?” Jihoon asks.

Hansol shrugs. “I don’t know yet. I was in Seungkwan’s the first night, and Seokmin’s yesterday, and yours today. I guess it’s finally my turn tomorrow.”

“Huh,” he says. “What’s Seokmin’s like?”

“Real nice. Real romantic—we walked around Paris together, and got fancy espresso’s, and held hands in the park. He seems like a sweet guy.”

Jihoon nods. That sounds like Seokmin. “He is.”

He can see Hansol watching him out of the corner of his eye. “You guys are schoolfriends, right? He mentioned it.”

“Yeah. We’ve known each other for ages. I was kind of shocked really, that he was my first soulmate.”

“I bet,” Hansol nods. “Are you going to start dating?”

“I guess so. That’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it?”

Hansol shrugs. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. He seems to want to make it work, though.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon murmurs. “I just think it’ll take me some time to adjust.”

Hansol nods. “That’s cool, though. Just tell him that. Make sure you’re on the same page. You’ll work it out eventually.” He pats Jihoon’s thigh, and his hand is warm, comforting.

“Yeah,” he says, pulling hard on the final wire to adjust it properly. “I’ll try my best. What about you and Seungkwan? Do you guys know each other?”

“No, but I think I have an idea where he is. Hopefully we’ll be meeting in the summer.”

“Really?” Jihoon says, clicking the panel door shut and looking at Hansol. “Isn’t that one thing you can’t get out of dreams? A location?”

“We kind of did it accidentally,” Hansol grins, lopsided and endearing. “A loophole, I guess. Or maybe his dream space turned a blind eye, as he has three soulmates to find.”

“Right. We definitely need a push in the right direction to start us off.”

“Yeah. I’m excited to meet you too, one day. It won’t be as cool as landing a spaceship in front of you, though.”

“You didn’t land it, you crashed it,” Jihoon points out.

“Eh,” Hansol shrugs. “Close enough.”

ლ ❂ ლ

He stops in front of Seokmin, who’s holed up in the library again, his nose in another soulmate book. He keeps sending Jihoon facts about having multiple soulmates, and how it differs from having one, and while he appreciates the updates, he’s still getting his head around _having_ soulmates. About having his first soulmate be his best friend, actually.

“Go on a date with me,” he says, looking down at him.

Seokmin looks up, as do the students sitting around them, and he flushes pink.

“What?” Seokmin asks, gaping like a fish.

“Well,” Jihoon says. “We’re soulmates. Shouldn’t we start dating?”

Seokmin blinks at him, and then his face breaks out into a smile so bright he’s almost blinded by it. “Yes!” he enthuses, standing up with haste. “Where are we going?”

“Um,” Jihoon pauses. “Not now. I mean, it’s the beginning of the school day. But maybe, after school, we could go for… food?”

Seokmin blushes a little. “Ah, yes! Yes. I’ll meet you at the school gates?”

He nods. “Sure.”

Seokmin is back to beaming at full capacity, and Jihoon fights the urge to shield his eyes.

“See you there.”

In retrospect, he can see where he went wrong. When he promised Seokmin a _date_, he was probably expecting something different to their usual hangout activities, something special and romantic. He was probably expecting more than Subway.

“Look, they even have new ingredients,” he muses, pointing to the pickle in the tray. “Can I have some of that?” he asks the server, who piles it onto his sandwich.

“Yeah,” Seokmin says, muted. “You’re right.”

He cringes. He definitely should’ve made a reservation at a restaurant somewhere. But he’s a student, he isn’t rich! And would they even be let in in their school uniforms? Should he have arranged it for the weekend? Maybe he was expecting flowers, too; Hansol had warned him that Seokmin is a romantic type. He sure does like sappy things, but it’s hard for Jihoon to adapt to that sort of mentality.

“Hey, we can… go on a walk or something, if you like. With our sandwiches.”

Seokmin perks up a little. “Oh, yeah, okay. Where do you want to go?”

There’s an arcade nearby, and that’s on the tip of his tongue before he realises _date, not hangout_. That’s not the answer here. Maybe…

“The park?”

Seokmin actually smiles, and he feels a brief wave of relief wash over him. Maybe this date is redeemable.

They pay for their sandwiches and start strolling towards the nearby park, and though it’s cold out, everything looks pretty with water hanging off it. Alive, fresh.

“So, what did you think of Seungkwan?” he asks.

“He’s so nice!” Seokmin enthuses. “We were walking through these beautiful flower gardens, and he told me all about how he’s been celebrating getting his soulmates with his family.” His face is bright in recollection. “You were right. I think we’re pretty alike. I can’t wait until we all meet for real.”

Jihoon looks around at the dead trees and scowls. It’s not like he has a dream space to work with here. Even if he did, he supposes his dream flower garden would turn out to be inhabited by trolls, or something.

Hey, that would be pretty fun. He would totally wrestle with trolls for fun.

“Right,” he says. “Hansol seems pretty cool too.”

Seokmin looks over at him, but he focuses on the ground, his feet moving one in front of the other.

“You know it doesn’t change that we’re soulmates too, right?” Seokmin says, gently. “The fact that there’s two others. You don’t need to compete with them.”

“Of course,” Jihoon scoffs. “It’s just different for us, isn’t it? We’re the only ones to already know each other.”

“Yeah,” Seokmin agrees quietly. “I suppose so.”

They walk for a while, and Jihoon can’t find a single thing to talk about. Usually, he can talk to Seokmin for hours, about anything, about random shit. He’s not sure how the dreams changed things so dramatically.

They reach the end of the park, sandwiches finished. There’s a brisk breeze now, and Seokmin’s bus is pulling up at the stop by the gates.

“Hey, you should get on that before it leaves,” Jihoon says.

“Oh,” Seokmin says. “Are we done?”

Jihoon shrugs. “We walked through the park, didn’t we?”

“Ah. Okay.” Seokmin sticks out a hand to call for the bus, and it slows down. “Bye, then, Hyung.”

“Bye,”

He watches the bus drive away, and exhales heavily.

☆ ☽ ☆

He creeps along the industrial hallway, footsteps light, gun held between both hands. There’s voices down the hallway, and he rushes past an open doorway, sneaking around the enemy. He knows where he needs to go. Has the mission plan in his head. The room in the centre of the building, the boiler room; only it’s locked and bolted, the prisoner held secure.

He eyes up the wide ventilation shaft further down the corridor and sheathes the gun in his belt. It takes a running jump to grasp at the grate and rip it off the wall, but he lands deftly on two feet, ventilation shaft successfully open. He listens out, but it seems that no one heard the commotion, so he puts the grate against a wall, and jumps up again, pulls himself inside the ventilation shaft. There’s a soft singing voice echoing through the tunnel, and begins to follow it, knowing it’ll lead him to where he needs to go. Like a moth to a flame, or a sailor to a siren, except no one is _dying_ in this situation, because he’s a super cool agent who’s here to save the hostage.

The singing gets closer as he follows it’s call, deftly crawling through the tunnel with minimal noise. When he reaches his exit, there’s another grate in front of him, so he shifts until he can get his feet in front of him, and kicks, hard. The grate gives way, and he slips out through the end of the shaft, landing on the floor of the boiler room. There, in front of him, is Seungkwan, handcuffed to a pipe and looking up at him. His singing cuts out abruptly.

“Finally!” he says, rattling his handcuffs. “We need to talk about your love life.”

Jihoon tenses instantly. That is _not _what the hostage is supposed to say when he is rescued by the brave agent.

“Why?” he scowls, coming over to inspect Seungkwan’s handcuffs. “You’re right here. I’m saving you, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Oh, my saviour,” Seungkwan says, a smirk on his lips. “I mean your real-life love life.”

He decides to break the cuffs open with pure strength. It’s his dream, he can do what he wants. “What about it?” He pulls at the cuffs, biceps flexing, and the metal snaps under his pull, freeing Seungkwan’s hands.

“Seokmin’s been telling me about your dates. I need to give you tips, desperately.”

Jihoon would like to think about anything but this, thank you very much. Since the park, he’s tried ice skating, he’s tried a romantic walk through the woods, and he tried an expensive meal out together. The problem was, he’d been uncomfortable at every one of them; tensed up and anxious on the ice, cold and bored in the woods, and, in a moment he never wants to relive, his card had been declined at the restaurant. Seokmin had to pay for the whole meal. His cheeks get hot just thinking about it.

“I can’t do it,” Jihoon huffs, going over to try the lock on the door. “I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

“I know what your problem is.”

“And what’s that?”

“You need to find balance. You’re not best friends messing about at school anymore; you’re boyfriends, so of course you should put some effort in. But doing things that makes you uncomfortable aren’t going to be good for either of you. You need to find a compromise.”

“Like what?” he says, pulling on the lock. He’s tempted to rip this apart too, just to release tension.

“Like, go out and see a movie that you both like. It’s a date, but it’s something you like, too. Or go to a café, and get a drink together, and chat; it’s sweet, and cosy, but not too costly, and you can talk like you usually do. You can strike a balance between what you already have and what you want to have, you know.”

He pulls on the locked bolt, hard, and tears off part of the door with it. The door successfully swings open, but the noise of it is awful, a reverberating bang that echoes through the halls. The sound of distant, unsettled voices call through the corridors.

“It’s time to go!” he calls, turning to take Seungkwan’s hand and pull him out of the boiler room.

“Don’t be afraid, Jihoon!” Seungkwan shouts as they run through the metallic corridors together, shouts following behind them. “Seokmin is smitten!”

A masked, covered figure appears out of a corridor to the left of them, and Jihoon takes his gun out of his belt and shoots him, dead in the chest. They carry on running, through corridors, the voices getting closer, until Jihoon spots a chance at refuge.

“In here!” he hisses, pulling Seungkwan into a room, and slamming the door behind them. It’s pitch black, and they both stay still as they hear the voices outside pass, fading away as they continue in their hunt.

A light comes on, and then Seungkwan is in front of him, holding the light switch. As it turns out, they’re in a storage cupboard, crammed and tiny and with nowhere to go.

“So,” Seungkwan says. “Are you going to take my advice?”

Jihoon scowls. “I’m doing my best.”

Seungkwan smiles, softer now. “I know you can do it. You’re smitten, too, after all.”

Jihoon looks around, cheeks on fire. “I don’t know how to express it, though.”

“You tell him,” he says, as if it’s that simple. “Or if you’re better with gestures, then kiss him.”

“I don’t know how to do that either,” Jihoon says. He feels like he might explode if this dream doesn’t end soon. “Why do you act like any of this is easy?”

“Because it is, if you get out of your own head,” Seungkwan says, and he loops an arm around Jihoon’s waist. “Do you want a demonstration on showing your affection?”

“You think you’re so smooth—”

“I don’t think,” Seungkwan says, face close. “I know. Here’s how you do it.”

He leans in close, fitting his mouth onto Jihoon’s, one hand holding the back of his head carefully. Jihoon can feel the electricity that sparks through him, even in the dream, can feel warmth flood him down to his toes. He kisses back carefully, and yeah, this is pretty nice. He’d like to do this more. With Seungkwan, and with Hansol, and Seokmin, too.

ლ ❂ ლ

“Hyung,” Seokmin says, at the same time as Jihoon says,

“Hey.” They both stop and awkwardly backtrack.

“Oh, you go first,” Seokmin says.

“No, you go,” he protests, shuffling in place.

“No, seriously, you start,” Seokmin says, smiling, and how can he deny him?

“Well,” Jihoon starts. “I was wondering if you wanted to go and see the new Thor movie.”

Seokmin immediately beams, that dazzling, beautiful thing he feels like he shouldn’t look at too directly. “That’s what I was going to say! Hyung, do you think soulmates get, like subconscious telepathy or something? That’s spooky!”

No, but we do both have the same meddling boy in our dreams, he thinks. “Great. Do you want to go on Saturday? I’ll book us some seats?”

Seokmin nods, bright and pleased. “Sounds good! I can’t wait!”

He dresses up a little, but not too much, because it’s still a cinema, and it’s still just Seokmin. The button-down is simple, but_ ironed_, and he’s feeling pretty good about it. The plan had been to arrive five minutes early, grab them some popcorn or something, but as it turns out, Seokmin beats him to it. He’s already there when he arrives, standing in their meeting spot, trying to juggle a handful of snacks.

He manages to save his cola before it tips out of Seokmin’s hand. “You already bought us food?”

Seokmin nods. “You bought us the tickets, so it’s only fair. Are you ready?”

The movie turns out to be much funnier than previous instalments, and they find themselves laughing and clutching onto each other multiple times throughout. The popcorn gets spilled more than once, but they manage to eat most of it between them, their hands meeting a few times in the tub. Seokmin ends up desperately needing to pee when the movie ends, and Jihoon laughs at him dodging and ducking through people to reach the toilets first.

They gush about the big fight scene on the way out—Thor vs Hulk, very intense, very funny, a 10/10 from Jihoon—and he doesn’t realise how warm he is until they step into the cool evening air, sun low and street quiet.

It brings him back into the moment. He’s on a date with Seokmin.

“Hey,” he says, clearing his throat. “Do you want to…come back to mine for a bit? We can chill and… stuff.”

Seokmin smiles at him. “Can we watch the other Thor movies?”

The easy smile returns to his face, and with a sudden surge of bravery, he takes Seokmin’s hand in his own. “We should definitely do that.”

Seokmin giggles, actually giggles, and it makes him smile. He begins to tug him down the street towards their bus stop.

“Hyung?” Seokmin says, and Jihoon turns to face him, walking backwards, hand still clasped to his.

“Yeah?”

Seokmin leans forward and plants a soft, quick kiss on his lips. “Thanks for the date. I had a great time.”

Jihoon flushes immediately, flustered and losing the rhythm of his step for a moment. Then he pulls at Seokmin’s hand so that he has to duck down a little, and leans up to meet him, giving him a kiss back.

“Anytime.”


	3. seokmin

☆ ☽ ☆

The sheets are smooth and soft under his hands, the bed wide enough to easily accommodate for the two of them. The floor to ceiling windows along one wall give way to the spread of the ocean and beach outside, vast and empty and beautiful. The light is pink as the sun paddles in the waves of the horizon, and palm trees sway easily in the light summer breeze.

More importantly, Jihoon is soft and pliant under his hands, graciously accepting and reciprocating kisses to his mouth, his nose, his cheeks, working his way under his ear and towards his neck.

“You could dream of anything and you dream about a hotel room?” Jihoon murmurs, amusement in his voice.

“It’s not just a hotel room,” Seokmin whines against his skin, and Jihoon shivers at the feeling of his hot breath. “It’s an expensive hotel room! It’s an exotic location, and the softest sheets ever, and you, here, with me…”

“Yes, but you have me when you’re awake, too,” Jihoon smiles. “And we did this before we fell asleep.”

“No reason why we can’t go again,” Seokmin says, kissing his shoulder. “As many times as we like, really, because it’s a dream!”

“Wow, you’re really that horny?”

“Hey!” Seokmin protests, coming back up to look Jihoon in the face. “This is a healthy amount of horny!”

Jihoon just laughs at him and pulls him down to engage in another kiss, languid and hot, the pink light kissing their bare skin. “If you say so. Have you got anything exciting in those drawers?”

Seokmin laughs, eyeing them up. “I don’t know. What do you want?”

“Maybe like, a protein shake? I could do with the energy, when it comes to you.”

Jihoon laughs at the expression on Seokmin’s face, and then rolls over, pushing him back onto the sheets. “I’m kidding. You’re all the energy I need.”

“Darling,” he says, pretending to swoon. “You don’t know what you do to me.”

ლ ❂ ლ

He rolls over to snuggle his face into Jihoon’s neck, and Jihoon responds by bringing an arm up to stroke the back of Seokmin’s head.

“Good morning,” he sing-songs, sweet and morning-thin.

“Good morning,” Jihoon responds, rougher, but stroking the hair at the base of his skull so gently. “That was a good dream.”

Seokmin smiles into his skin. “I told you so. A luxury hotel without the costs, isn’t that the sexiest part about it?”

Jihoon laughs. “You’re right, that is pretty hot.” 

They lie there for a few more minutes, and Seokmin can feel himself dropping off to sleep again, so warm and comfortable in their bed.

Jihoon prods him when his breath starts evening out. “If you want to get coffee before class, we have to get up. Now.”

Seokmin mumbles sleepily, content to stay here. Jihoon, however, slides out of his grip, effectively easing him back to life. “No, come back!”

“Nope,” Jihoon says, headed over to their wardrobe. “New year means new professors. I don’t want to be singled out by them for being late on the first day.”

“It’s just introductory stuff, no one cares,” Seokmin complains, burying into a pillow.

“I care,” Jihoon says, pulling the pillow from under him and then hitting him over the head with it. “Get up!”

Seokmin drags himself out of bed eventually, and the two make it to the University campus coffee shop with time to order something caffeinated and bitter (for Jihoon), and something chocolatey and sugar-filled (for Seokmin).

They’re standing in the queue, waiting for their order to arrive, when he spots him. He thinks he’s seeing things at first, a sight left over from years’ worth of dreaming, but then he double takes, blinks, and he’s still there. Hansol is walking through the coffee shop leisurely, headed for the door, looking comfortable and a little drowsy and very, very beautiful.

“Hansol!” he shouts, way too loud for a room this small, but he doesn’t care. It’s his soulmate! Right there, in the flesh! Seungkwan and Hansol have been dating for years, too, so where he is, the final one can’t be far behind. “Hey, Hansol!”

Hansol has a hand on the door when he turns, looks at Seokmin over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Jihoon staring, too. Hansol stutters to a stop where he is, going wide-eyed at the sight of them standing there, Seokmin beaming hard. It feels like forever, that they stand there looking, before Seokmin remembers how to move, starts to push through people to reach him, drink forgotten.

Only Hansol doesn’t do the same. As soon as Seokmin starts moving, Hansol resumes his own motion, pushing open the door with more urgency than before. Seokmin pushes after him, Jihoon hot on his tail.

“Hansol!” he shouts again, but Hansol doesn’t stop. He’s fast, too, already at the other side of the street and headed further into the campus by the time they get out of the door.

“It’s us!” Jihoon shouts, and Hansol disappears around a corner. Seokmin starts running, following him through the space between two buildings out onto the other side. They enter a huge courtyard, milling with students going to lectures, professors rushing to classes, stalls enticing freshers to events. Hansol has disappeared somewhere into it, blending in with the crowd.

“What the hell was that?” Jihoon asks, spinning to look around him, as if Hansol might have doubled back on them. “That was Hansol, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Seokmin says, heart sinking. He thinks the expression on Hansol’s face might be burned into his memory forever, the shock, the stillness, the dread. “Definitely him.”

“Why’d he run from us?”

Seokmin looks around, but it’s no use. There’s so many students here, and Hansol could be among any of them. “I don’t know.”

They stare for a few moments, trying to catch a glimpse of him, but the encounter seems more unreal than any of their dreams have; it’s like he was an apparition, there and gone within seconds.

“Come on, lets go back. Maybe he was sat with someone.”

They make their way back to the café, but no one comes forward to talk with them, and they can’t find any obvious trace of Hansol. They get handed their drinks, though, a sad compensation for the soulmate that slipped through their grasp.

They’re quiet when they leave the coffee shop. It’s hard to know what to do now; the protocol for your soulmate running away from you doesn’t exist.

They separate to go to their different lectures. Seokmin can’t focus on a damn thing.

☆ ☽ ☆

“Seokminnie!” Seungkwan says, running forwards to meet him on the autumn street, his cheeks glowing with the chill of the season.

“Seungkwan!” Seokmin exclaims. “You have to help me!”

Seungkwan reaches him and takes both of his hands, looking into his face expectantly. “With what?”

“We saw Hansol today! In real life, he was right in front of us! But he ran away!”

Seungkwan stops smiling, mouth falling slack and eyes going wide. “Really? Are you serious?”

“Yes!” Seokmin says, squeezing his hands hard. He’s relieved Seungkwan is as shocked as he is. “Hyung and I tried to find him, but he disappeared! We’ve been confused about it the whole day. I just don’t understand why he would do that.”

Seungkwan bites his lip. “Do you want to sit down? I might have an idea why.”

“Really?” Seokmin is desperate to hear the reason why, doesn’t want to wait a second longer to hear what’s wrong, and what he can do to fix it. So the dream shifts, and they go from being in coats and scarves on an autumnal street to being sat in a cosy café, all golden browns and chestnut tables, hot mugs sat steaming in front of them.

“Well, that was quick,” Seungkwan remarks, taking his mug in both hands.

“Tell me!” Seokmin urges. “Are you here too? At the University? Do you think you could find us? Do you think Hansol will come around?”

Seungkwan looks down into his drink, thumbing the ceramic side in circles. “Do you remember, about a year ago, when Hansol started being more subdued in our dreams? How he’s been different since then?”

“Of course,” Seokmin nods. It had hurt to see him like that, but he couldn’t do anything about it. So he’d done his best to give him good dreams, to take care of him the nights he had him. “You both said you couldn’t explain why.”

“Right,” Seungkwan says. “The dream space doesn’t allow it. But I think it’s part of the reason Hansol ran from you today.”

Seokmin grips his hair with one hand, frustrated. “So what can we do? He’s right here, but—if we can’t understand what’s going on—”

“You should find Jeonghan,” Seungkwan says.

“Who’s Jeonghan?”

“He’s a friend of ours. He’s known Hansol for a long time. He’ll be able to explain what’s going on.”

“Is he here too? At the University?”

“Yes. He won’t be far from Hansol, either. He might be able to help Hansol come around, even? I’ll talk to him too, of course.”

“Do you think you could find us?” Seokmin asks, hopeful. “There’s only so many people enrolled here. We could probably find each other on social media, right?”

Seungkwan smiles at him. “Find Jeonghan first. As soon as you can. Will you pass on a few things from me, too?”

“Of course,” Seokmin nods. “Does that mean you’re not here?”

Seungkwan looks at him, sad smile on his face. “I wish I could tell you.”

Seokmin sighs in frustration. “It’s such a stupid rule. It’s okay; if Hansol is here, we’ll meet you soon, too. This is more of a step forwards than it is a step back.”

Seungkwan takes his hand again, squeezing it and nodding. “Of course it is! Hey, do you want to enjoy this dream you’ve conjured up for us? Forget Hansol for now, you’ll have him all to yourself tomorrow night. Tell me about your day!”

Seokmin scratches the back of his head. “I don’t know. Nothing much has happened—the Hansol thing has been taking up my brain. The new school year started, but not much has happened yet.”

“Wow,” Seungkwan muses. “I bet you and Jihoon are so cute around campus. Walking between all the trees together, holding hands, the business major and the music major, star-crossed lovers…”

“How is that star-crossed?” Seokmin laughs. Seungkwan’s vision puts an idea in his head, and the dream space changes until they’re standing on a path laden with orange leaves, trees lining the way ahead. “Music and business go hand in hand!”

“Right,” Seungkwan says, swinging Seokmin’s hand between them as they begin to walk, hot drink clutched in the other. “But you probably have opposite timetables, and very different content, and the other business majors probably scoff about arts majors, and you’re torn between your peers and your boyfriend…”

Seokmin laughs. “No way! Do you think I’m that shallow?”

Seungkwan stops and pulls Seokmin close to him. “Of course not. You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met, Seokmin.” When he leans in to give him a kiss, he tastes of caffeine and warm milk. “I hope you know that.”

“It’s all because I have the best soulmates in the world,” Seokmin says, giving him a sweet kiss back.

“I don’t know about that,” he says. “We’re lucky to be matched with someone like you.”

He shakes his head. “I’m the lucky one. I promise.”

Seungkwan just smiles.

ლ ❂ ლ

He spots him again the next day, talking with a blonde boy on campus.

“Hey, Hansol!” he calls out, willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d been scared yesterday; maybe he’d been confused. Whatever he’s sad about, he can bring it to them! They’re his soulmates! Seokmin wants to help Hansol bear his worries, not have him afraid to approach them because of whatever is going on inside his head.

Hansol whips his head around at the voice, looking Seokmin straight in the face.

“Hi!” he calls again, pushing through students to make his way towards them. Hansol, in response, turns and walks in the other direction, steadfastly pushing against the crowd so as not to speak to Seokmin.

His heart drops again. He can’t understand it—why would he run from his soulmate? He knows who they are, he’s sure of that now; the avoidance is too deliberate to be anything else. But they’re supposed to be made for each other, matched for life. Seokmin only wants to help. He slows down in his pursuit, watching as Hansol’s backpack disappears into the crowd ahead of him, heart deflated. The blonde boy is still stood there, watching him curiously.

Seokmin eyes him up a little nervously. “I don’t suppose you’re Jeonghan?”

The blonde raises an eyebrow. “That’s me.”

“Oh!” Seokmin says, stepping forwards to greet him properly. “I’m glad I’ve found you. Seungkwan told me to look for you!”

He doesn’t miss the way the boy goes pale, face falling as he stares at him. “What?”

He’d better introduce himself. “I’m Seokmin—Hansol and Seungkwan’s soulmate! Me and my other soulmate, Jihoon—we saw Hansol on campus for the first time yesterday, but he turned away from us. When I saw Seungkwan in my dream last night, I asked him about it. He told me that you’d be able to explain things.”

“Oh,” Jeonghan says. He looks around for a second, lost for words. “Shit.”

“Is everything okay with them?” he asks, nervously. Maybe Seungkwan and Hansol are fighting? He hopes that isn’t the case.

“Okay,” Jeonghan says, running a hand through his hair. “Right. You’d better call your other soulmate. I’ve got something important to tell you.”

They grab hot drinks while they wait for Jihoon to arrive, perched on a quiet campus bench together. Seokmin is practically vibrating in his seat with the anxiety of waiting, of wondering—what could be so wrong that Hansol doesn’t want to talk to them? That Jeonghan is tight-lipped as they wait for Jihoon’s arrival?

“Hi,” Jihoon says, approaching the bench and sitting in the space beside him. He’s a little wind-swept with the trip, but handsome all the same. “What’s going on?”

“Hey. This is Jeonghan,” Seokmin says, gesturing to the man looking between them. “He’s a friend of Seungkwan and Hansol’s—the one Seungkwan told me to find last night.”

“Ah,” Jihoon nods. “Yes.”

“I saw Hansol in the corridor today, and he ran away again,” he explains, trying not to sound downcast. “Jeonghan said he would… explain things?”

He looks to Jeonghan hopefully, waiting for the situation to be revealed, for this handsome blonde to fix their soulmate problems.

“Yes,” Jeonghan says, sighing. “I have to say, I understand why Seungkwan picked me, but… this isn’t going to be the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” He looks down at his drink, hands blistering red with the cold. “There’s something I have to tell you about Seungkwan.”

“What is it?” Seokmin says, shuffling forwards in his seat a little.

Jeonghan looks at them, so sad, so hesitant. “He’s dead.”

Seokmin stares.

“Wh-what?” Jihoon stammers.

“He was killed last year in a hit and run.”

“That’s not true,” Seokmin says. His whole body feels cold. His nervous system feels on fire. “We’re still sharing dreams. Dreams are supposed to stop if your soulmate dies.”

Jeonghan nods. “Dreams are also supposed to stop if you meet your soulmate in real life. But you guys are still having yours, right?”

Seokmin looks at Jihoon, who’s face is slack with shock. He’s right.

“It’s different with multiple soulmates. The dreams don’t stop until you’ve all met each other, or died. I think that’s why Hansol is avoiding you guys. Once he’s met you, the last pieces will be in place. The dreams will stop. More specifically, the Seungkwan dreams will stop.”

“Oh,” Seokmin says, no more than a breath. He feels frozen in place on this bench. “That’s why he said that, then.”

Jeonghan tilts his head. “Said what?”

Seokmin looks up at him, and he can feel hot tears on his cheeks. “Seungkwan said to tell you that he loves you, and he’s grateful for all you’ve done for him and Hansol.” He wipes his face with the back of his hand. “I didn’t think he was serious, because he could just tell you that himself. But… he can’t.”

Jeonghan nods, wipes at his eyes quickly. “Yeah. Thanks for passing that on.”

He nods, swallowing hard. “Thank you for telling us, Jeonghan.”

“You can call me Hyung,” Jeonghan says. “Any friend of Seungkwan’s is a friend of mine.”

They both stand, share a hug where he shakes and cries, Jeonghan stroking his back. When he pulls away, he turns to hug Jihoon too, who’s gone static, sat completely still on the bench.

He lets himself be pulled up into a hug, blinking rapidly. “Oh, fuck,” he says quietly, into Seokmin’s neck. “Fuck, Seokmin.”

☆ ☽ ☆

He crawls out of the tent to meet the most beautiful view he’s ever seen. A beautiful sunset sweeps out in front of him, the colours stretching out past the mountains ahead of them. There’s a campfire outside his tent, and beyond it, sat watching the view, is Hansol, wrapped up in a blanket and beanie.

Seokmin comes to sit by him without saying a word. They watch the sunset change colours for a few minutes; from pale pinks to deeper purples, the reds creeping up as the sun sets lower.

“Why didn’t either of you tell us?” Seokmin asks, eventually.

Hansol doesn’t look his way, but his face is sad and soft under the dimming light. “We couldn’t. The one rule of the dream space. You can’t give away where you are in the real world.”

Of course.

He lies back on the soft earth beneath them, defeated. The sunset in his dream seems to be on fast-forward, because stars are starting to appear in the velvet night above them. Small spots of light, looking down on them, and only them.

Hansol lies back with him. “I’m really sorry.”

“Me too,” Seokmin says, rolling over to bury his face into Hansol’s shoulder, slinging an arm over his chest. “I always thought Seungkwan would give really good cuddles in real life.”

“Yeah. He did.”

“Will you tell me about him?” Seokmin breathes. “Things you only picked up from knowing him for real?”

Hansol presses a kiss into his hair. “Where do I even start?”

They lie there and talk until the sunrise is threatening to peek over the mountains. Seokmin learns that Seungkwan’s singing voice was chilling in person, powerful and beautiful, like him; that he could talk a mile a minute at parties, that he would light up any room he walked into. He learns that he was the type of person to notice if you were quiet in a group conversation, and ask for your opinion, to make sure you weren’t left out.

He learns that he would’ve loved him very much, given the chance.

ლ ❂ ლ

When he wakes up, Jihoon is, surprisingly, already awake and alert, sat up in their bed.

“Hyung?” he rasps. “You okay?”

Jihoon nods. “Seungkwan says he’s sorry.”

“Yeah. Hansol too.”

Jihoon reaches out and takes Seokmin by the hand, holds on tight.

“What do we do now?” he asks, exhausted by the night of talking, even if he hadn’t actually moved from this bed. “How do we fix this?”

Jihoon gives his hand a firm squeeze before sliding out of bed. Seokmin raises his head blearily—Jihoon is strangely active for this time of morning.

“We do our best,” he says, opening their wardrobe and taking out some clothes for the day. “Seungkwan and I came up with a plan. Get ready; we’re going to ambush Hansol.”

“There he is,” Jihoon says, pointing through the window of the café at where Hansol is sat in the corner, looking intently at his laptop. “Jeonghan said he comes here to study.”

“Are you sure this is the best idea?” Seokmin asks, nervously. “He’s made it clear he’s not ready to speak to us…”

“I have permission from his boyfriend, which is good enough,” Jihoon asserts, pushing the café door open. “Don’t back out on me now. Round the table to sit on his other side, okay?”

“Okay,” Seokmin agrees, apprehensive.

“Alright. Mission is a go!” Jihoon says, storming ahead into the café, directly towards Hansol.

Hansol seems to sense something is amiss, and looks up to meet their eyes at the last second. He goes to grab his laptop and stand, but then he and Jihoon are there, bracketing him into his seat.

“Sit,” Jihoon says, firm. “And listen. Don’t speak, but listen.”

Hansol doesn’t sit, but stares at him, eyes impossibly wide.

“Seungkwan sent me,” Jihoon adds, softer. “It’s okay.”

Hansol looks over at Seokmin, who smiles warmly, hoping to gain his trust. “This isn’t a trick or anything. I promise.”

Hansol slowly sits, carefully placing his laptop on his lap, looking between them.

“We talked to Jeonghan,” Jihoon explains. “As you probably know. So we know about Seungkwan. We know why you’ve been walking away from us, and we understand. It’s okay.”

“We’ve come with a compromise, of sorts,” Seokmin says, earnest.

“Did you know that there were studies done on the science behind meeting your soulmate?” Jihoon continues. Hansol sits there, unmoving, watching him. “It was found that the moment you’ve officially ‘met’ your soulmate—the moment the dreams stop—is the moment that you communicate with the for the first time. If you speak to each other, or if you send them a message, or write them a letter, or whatever.”

“That’s why our dreams are continuing,” Seokmin explains. “Even though we’ve seen each other and recognised each other, you haven’t said anything to us yet. Gestures and body language don’t count as direct communication—they’re too vague, could mean anything. Sign language is the only exception.”

“So,” Jihoon says. “We have a plan. Come on a date with us. If you don’t communicate directly, the dreams won’t end yet. But we can still be together. You can get to know us, a little bit. You don’t have to run.”

Hansol stares at him, mouth hanging open a little.

Seokmin shuffles forwards in his seat and puts a hand over Hansol’s. “We understand if you want space, but we really want to know you, Hansol. I don’t want to lose two of my soulmates before I even manage to meet them.”

“You can shake your head if you don’t want to,” Jihoon says quietly. “It’s okay.”

Hansol blinks once, twice. Nods his head.


	4. hansol

☆ ☽ ☆

“How did you find the movie?” Jihoon asks, walking in step with Hansol as they kick up the clouds around their feet. The sky around them is blue and endless, and the closer clouds occasionally caress their faces with a cool touch.

“I really liked it,” he says, reaching out to swipe at a nearby cloud, watching in fascination as it disperses, wispy and dreamy. “The fight scene towards the end was so dope, too, with his new powers.”

“Right?” Jihoon turns to walk backwards, so that he can face Hansol and enthuse wildly. “Seokmin doesn’t know what he’s talking about; it’s way cooler to give superheroes more powers! It means better fight scenes!”

Hansol smiles. “I kind of get what he means; if they become too overpowered, everything is too easy, right? But in that context, it was okay. It worked.”

“I suppose. It’s all just cool to me, though.”

“That’s fair. But I did really like it.”

“Good. Would’ve been a waste of time if you’d sat through it without liking it.”

Hansol reaches out to take Jihoon’s hand gently. The two of them tend to be less tactile than Seokmin or Seungkwan are, but with their newfound real-life proximity being frustratingly fragile, he finds it easier to do this sort of thing in dreams, now.

“Does it make things difficult for you? When I’m hanging out with you guys, but I can’t give any input on things?”

Jihoon squeezes his fingers gently. “Not difficult. Frustrating, maybe. Because you’re here, finally, but… not here. Seungkwan too. It’s like we just have parts of you both, not the full thing. It’s not the meeting we imagined.”

He watches the white fluff gently part around his feet as they stroll along. “I want to speak to you guys. But I feel like if I do, I’m choosing you over him.”

Jihoon nods, lips pressed together. “It’s not like we want to lose him either. We’re grieving, but I don’t think it’ll seem real until the dreams stop. The same for you, too, I expect. Feels like losing him again.”

Hansol breathes out. He gets it. “Yes. Exactly that. I’m not ready to admit I can’t have all have you.”

Jihoon’s hand twitches in his. “But Seungkwan isn’t a realistic choice. You’ll waste away if you try to choose a ghost of him. You know that, right?”

“I know,” he says, voice disappearing under the weight of the words. “Doesn’t make it any easier to let go, though.”

ლ ❂ ლ

He meets up with them the next day, for another of their strange little dates, watching movies or walking in a park or sitting around a drink. The drink idea had been ditched after one date, though, because it meant Hansol sitting there listening to Seokmin and Jihoon talk without being able to respond. Watching something together is better; it has all the easy participation of being together, with minimal temptation to talk, to break the delicate balance they’ve struck.

Today they’ve found something a little more exciting than a movie. So here he is, wrapped in up coat and winter boots, smiling at his soulmates as he approaches.

“Hi, Hansollie!” Seokmin says brightly, embracing him in a hug. Hugs are the most contact they’ve had in person so far, but it’s still nice, a stand-in for the hello he can’t say back.

“Hi,” Jihoon says, and the two of them hug too. He thinks back to his dream, to Jihoon in white walking among the clouds. Looks at him here, dressed in black, shivering in the winter wind. In both places, he’s unbearably soft.

“Are you ready? I’m so excited,” Seokmin says, taking one of Hansol’s hands and pulling him into the middle of the trio. “I used to go to these all the time with my family, but Hyung had never been to one—so when we started dating, I made him come. We’ve been going every year since.”

“I bet it’ll be big in a city like this, though,” Jihoon says, his hand on Hansol’s other arm, keeping them all connected in the dying light of day. “I can hear the crowd from here.”

“That’s good!” Seokmin enthuses. “It’ll be so beautiful—there’ll be loads of street food, too!”

Sure enough, when they enter the centre of the festival, there’s masses of people milling around, stalls dotted everywhere up the street selling food or lanterns. Some are already holding constructed lanterns, though they aren’t set to be released for another hour or two.

“Hey, the parade has already started!” Seokmin says, pointing at where a line of floats has started at the far end of the road, all neon structures and brightly lit floats.

“You keep our spot then,” Jihoon says. “I’ll go and get us food. You want anything?”

“Churros!” Seokmin says brightly.

“Alright. Back in a minute.”

Jihoon disappears into the crowd of people, and Hansol watches him go, a little anxious. He’s as short as he’s always been in his dreams, but it’s a little jarring to get used to in reality. Too easy to lose him in a crowd.

“Look!” Seokmin calls, drawing Hansol’s attention back to the parade. At the front of the proceedings is a float supporting traditional Korean house structure, lit up by spotlights, glowing golden in the night. It’s pretty, and he nods his head appreciatively.

Seokmin clutches at him and exclaims in delight at everything that passes, undeterred by Hansol’s non-responses. Hansol just holds his hand steady, smiling. When Jihoon comes back he hands Seokmin his churros and Hansol some tteokbokki, making him look over in surprise.

“Wasn’t sure what you’d want,” Jihoon shrugs. “Hope that’s okay.”

He nods his thanks, and Jihoon smiles, finally paying attention to the light festival. “Oh, hey, that float looks like you.”

The float that’s passing is a smiling buddha, cheeks bunched up and face bright. “What?” Seokmin asks through a mouthful of churro. “How?”

“It looks like you,” Jihoon repeats, simply. “Your eyes are the same when you smile, and the belly is the same after you’ve had too much samgyeopsal.”

“Hey!” Seokmin says, eyes going round, and Hansol stifles a laugh. “I never eat that much samgyeopsal!”

Jihoon eyes Hansol’s expression and grins. “You sure about that?”

“Yes!” Seokmin says, patting his stomach. “I eat just the right amount. I’m the picture of health.”

Jihoon sniggers into his bindaetteok, and Hansol squeezes Seokmin’s hand tight to show his support. Seokmin looks at him and nods earnestly. “I’m being serious, you know.”

The parade is beautiful, but releasing the lanterns is easily his favourite part of the festival. They buy one for each of them, cheap and simple, just paper with a wood frame, but the stall offers coloured pens and paints to decorate them with. Seokmin covers his in every colour of the rainbow; Jihoon paints careful music notes around the edges, that show up stark and beautiful against the flame in the middle. Hansol isn’t sure what he wants, so he starts writing the names of those he wishes were here. Mom, Dad, Hangyeol. Jeonghan, Seungcheol, Joshua. Seungkwan, Seungkwan, Seungkwan.

“Are you ready?” Seokmin asks, helping him light the flame in the middle. It’s fiddly, as they try to avoid tearing or burning the paper, but they get there eventually, the flame illuminating the names with a soft glow.

In return he holds Seokmin’s lantern steady for him as he tries to light his own. Jihoon watches patiently, and the noise of the crowd around them grows. At the front, someone starts counting down from ten.

“Come on!” Jihoon urges as Seokmin tentatively holds the lighter to the lantern, clicking, trying to get it to light.

As the countdown gets down to three, two, Seokmin finally manages it, and in his delight, releases the lantern a second too early. He makes a noise of surprise, tries to grab it, but it’s gone, already further than he can reach. Jihoon laughs at him, and Seokmin pouts.

“Release!” The crowd around them release their lanterns a beat behind Seokmin’s, which bobs ahead happily, but is soon lost in the crowded sky.

The individual lanterns are pretty, but when they’re sent off into the sky with the hundreds of others, they become part of something much bigger. A communal light in the sky, huddled close, outshining the stars for the few minutes they’re all visible together. Then they break off, drift further away, leaving behind the humans that are stuck on earth, missing them.

It’s beautiful. He’s sad when it’s over.

☆ ☽ ☆

“Woah,” Seokmin says, stumbling towards him over the rough terrain. Hansol holds out his arms, ready to receive him when he falls—which he does—and save him from meeting the rock face first. “Where are we?”

Hansol pulls him upright. “The moon, I think.”

Seokmin looks back at him, mouth going round. “The moon?”

“Yeah.” He points behind Seokmin, eyes bright. “Look.”

Seokmin turns to see planet Earth behind him, huge and blue, decorated with the clouds he’d been wandering around in only last night. “Wow,” he gasps, clutching Hansol’s hands tight. “It’s so big.”

“It sure is,” he says, pulling Seokmin’s back into his chest, wrapping his free arm loosely around his middle. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“Yeah,” Seokmin murmurs. “You and Jihoon have such grand dreams. You want so much more than what the world has to offer.”

Hansol holds him close. “Not really. I’d like to see the stars, so my dreams satisfy me. I have a lot of good things in my real life, though.”

Seokmin turns to face him, puts his hands on Hansol’s cheeks to hold him there. Looks into his eyes, searching for the truth. “So you’re happy? We’re enough?”

Hansol holds his gaze, bringing a hand up over Seokmin’s. “You guys are more than enough. It’s just hard to be happy all the time.”

“I know. You don’t need to be. I only want you to be with us, one day.”

He closes his eyes, leans into the touch. “It’s good, with you. I want to be with you properly. Really.”

“Yeah. We’ll get there. We’re here for you, when you’re ready for us; you know that, right?”

“Of course.” He brings him in for a hug and holds him firm, watches the stars glimmer in the distance over his shoulder. They stay there for a minute, watching the stars, comfortable and close.

“Hyung?”

“Yeah?”

“It’ll be a year, this Sunday.” It’s hard to say without his throat going tight at the thought. A year, already. “Will you guys come with me? To visit him?”

“Of course,” Seokmin says, rubbing his back. “Of course we will.”

He pulls out of the hug to face Seokmin, who has shining eyes. He wants to tell him that he’s just agreed to a flight to Jeju, but with the rules of the dream space still in place, he can’t talk about Seungkwan’s location. It makes him smile, thinking about how he’s going to have to give them their flight tickets and hope for the best.

“Hey, that’s nice,” Seokmin says, gently putting his thumb at the corner of Hansol’s mouth. “You have a really pretty smile, you know.”

He smiles wider, and gently wipes away a little of the moisture at the corner of Seokmin’s eye. “Thank you. I could never beat yours, though.”

Seokmin produces his megawatt smile on command, and Hansol pretends to fall back with the force of it. It makes Seokmin laugh, and that’s enough, for him.

ლ ❂ ლ

Jeju is wet when they arrive, which is fitting for the mood of the day, but he can’t help but think that Seungkwan would hate it, would whine and complain and greet his family with enthusiasm, only to complain at them too. As it is, he hugs Jinseol, lets Seokmin and Jihoon introduce themselves, and then they all get in her car, heavy atmosphere hanging between them.

Seungkwan’s grave is in a little cemetery local to his area, right at the end of Jeju. He can hear the sea from here, crashing against the mountains, angry and mournful. They stand in front of the plaque that says _Boo Seungkwan_ and Seokmin cries, and Hansol hears the waves, and not much else.

He’s only been here once, after the memorial service. Coming back, he thinks nothing has changed; he still misses him, every day. He still can’t fathom that he was gone so suddenly, so unfairly, so young.

Then again, everything has changed. He’s a student, and he’s with his soulmates, and now, he has a future ahead of him. He has these two; his best option, if he can gather the strength to choose them. He wants to, badly. But then he looks back at the plaque, and the idea of never seeing him again hurts. The idea of only having this left, only a name on metal, only the sound of the sea beyond the mountains—it’s not enough. Not when Seungkwan was so much; when, in life, he couldn’t be contained.

There’s a reason he always loved the open spaces of Jeju. There was nothing to box him in.

“Hey,” Jihoon has a hand on his arm, and he’s brought sharply back into the present. Seokmin has already laid his flowers by Seungkwan’s plaque, and Jihoon’s cheeks are a little wet. He feels like a shitty soulmate. “We’re going to go and wait by the gates. Come and join us when you’re done, yeah?”

He thumbs a tear from Jihoon’s cheek gently, and nods at him. Jihoon takes a shaking Seokmin by the arm and leads him out through the cemetery. Hansol watches them go, until they’re out of sight, and then sits down on the ground beneath him.

“Hey,” he says, reaching forward to clear a little dirt off the plaque. “I feel stupid talking to you here, because I’m going to see you tonight. But it’s been a year, so I feel like I should.”

He crosses his legs, hands clasped in his lap. “I really miss you, still. I know things will get better, eventually; I found Seokmin and Jihoon, so. They’ll take care of me. I only wish we could take care of you too.”

He swallows, looks down at the earth beneath him, soft with the rain. “I wish you were here. I really wish you could’ve met them. I wish you could tell me what I’m supposed to do, even though I know what you’d say.”

“The best we can do is carry on. So I’m going to do my best at that. I hope you’re proud of me.”

He kisses his fingertips, and presses them lightly to the plaque. “See you soon.”

☆ ☽ ☆

“Hansollie!” Seungkwan calls, and Hansol sits up to see Seungkwan skipping towards him, kicking up stardust in his wake.

He smiles, feeling like his heart could burst, and sits up to reach his arms out to Seungkwan. Seungkwan takes the offer with enthusiasm, coming to his knees to hug him tight, bowling him over onto his back again. There’s some sort of planet surface beneath them, but it’s not made of rock, or mud; it’s something soft, slightly spongey to the touch. It means he goes down without a fight, without care, just taking Seungkwan in his arms and holding him there.

“I missed you,” he says, muffled into Seungkwan’s shoulder.

“I know,” Seungkwan says. “You always do. Where are we today?”

“A planet?” Hansol says, looking around them. “I don’t know. I think we’re here to see the stars.”

“How don’t you know? This is your dream!” Seungkwan pulls away from his hold to laugh at him.

“The planet isn’t the important bit,” he says, cupping the back of his head with one hand, stroking the soft hair there.

He scoffs. “Of course it is! Look at the stars; they’re different to ours. I can’t see any of the normal constellations. How do you think up stuff like this?”

He shrugs, not taking his eyes off Seungkwan. “It’s all in my head somewhere, I guess.”

Seungkwan lays down next to Hansol, on his back with his head turned to face him. “You’ve got something on your mind, right?”

“Don’t I always?”

“Sure, but something big today. Something to distract you from all your planets and stars.”

Hansol swallows. “Yeah. It’s about our soulmates.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I want to get to know Seokmin and Jihoon. Properly. I want them to be able to know me.”

Seungkwan smiles at him, and it’s genuinely joyful. “Finally! Do you know how much I would cuddle Jihoon if I were there? I would smush his face every day! It’s about time you do it for me!”

Hansol laughs. “I think that would depend on if he would let you. He’s not as fluffy as he looks, you know.”

Seungkwan scoffs. “Nonsense. I could make him soft.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Hansol smiles. “You’d really click with Seokmin. God, you two in the same room would be unstoppable.”

“For sure,” Seungkwan agrees, taking Hansol’s hand in his own. “He seems so fun. We always do the most romantic things in his dreams; we would go on all the best dates while you and Jihoon sit at home and watch marvel movies, or whatever.”

Hansol laughs, clutches his hand back, hard. “I really wish you were here. You’d make us all fit perfectly.”

“I wish I was there too,” Seungkwan murmurs, thumb stroking the back of Hansol’s hand. “But I’m not. And I can’t stay in your head forever.” He reaches over to flick Hansol’s forehead gently.

“I know,” Hansol whispers. “But I think I’ll never be ready to let you go.”

“It’s okay. Just give them lots of kisses for me, yeah? The way you know I would if I were there.”

Hansol blinks away the tears. “I will.”

“Good.” Seungkwan leans in, presses his lips to Hansol’s. Holds him so carefully as they kiss under the stars, on this faraway planet, where no one can find them.

“I’m really going to miss you,” Hansol chokes out when they pull away. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“I know you can,” Seungkwan says, his own tears dropping onto Hansol’s face. “Love them lots for me, but even more for you. Be happy, one day. I know you can do it.”

Hansol’s head hits the soft ground underneath him. He presses his lips together. “I’ll never forget you.”

“You’d better not,” Seungkwan says. “This isn’t goodbye, after all. I’ll see you one day.”

He breathes out. “I hope so.”

Seungkwan smiles, leans in for a kiss again. Hansol doesn’t miss the shake of his breath, the heat from his damp cheeks when he leans in so close.

“I love you.”

ლ ❂ ლ

He wakes up to a wet pillow and someone stroking his face gently. It takes him a minute to come around properly, to register that it’s Seokmin touching him, gently wiping his tears away.

“Hansollie,” he says, so quiet, so gentle. He leans in to kiss his forehead, the quiet touch of lips to skin sounding in the quiet bedroom. “I wish I could take all your hurt away.”

Hansol smiles through his tears, pushes his head further into the pillow.

“Here, sit up,” comes Jihoon’s voice, and Hansol obeys, only to see him coming through the doorway with a hot mug in hand. He hands it over, and Hansol nods in thanks. He wonders how long he’s been crying in his sleep for them to be looking at him like this.

Jihoon climbs back into the bed, on the other side of Hansol, and puts a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll get better.”

“Yeah,” Seokmin agrees, comforting hand on his back. “I know everything seems hard now, but it won’t last forever. And you’ll always have us, no matter what.”

“Right,” Jihoon agrees. “You’re never alone.”

Hansol looks between the two of them, sleep-soft and genuine in these early hours of the morning. Recently, it’s been easy to focus on how unfair the world is; giving him a soulmate only to tear him away, to take his life so young. But he hasn’t often thought about how lucky he is, too. Not many people have three soulmates; not many are so lucky as to be so loved, unconditionally.

Seokmin leans in to kiss is cheek. “We love you, Hansol. And we’ll wait for you.”

Hansol thinks about Seungkwan; his loved boy, smiling under the stars.

He leans in to kiss Seokmin on the mouth, gentle, so as not to spill his coffee. Then turns, does the same to Jihoon, almost laughs at the shock on their faces.

He’ll say goodbye.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i obviously wish all the members of seventeen a long and happy life, this is purely a work of fiction! i hope you enjoyed it, and it brought you some catharsis; i had a good cry writing the scene at the grave :')
> 
> come visit me on twitter [@hope_boos](https://twitter.com/hope_boos)!  
you can retweet this fic [here!](https://twitter.com/hope_boos/status/1185899068112953345)  



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